On Sunday night, former Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pulled out of the managerial conversation for the Seattle Mariners, citing family reasons.

As I've said before, I don't have a really good feel yet for which way I want the Mariners to go in this process, despite the fact that the M's seemingly want to make a hire within a week.

The Baldelli news was disappointing in that it shrunk the candidate pool, but I don't find it crushing, per se. And frankly, if he wasn't going to be all-in on taking the job, then I'm glad he didn't take the job. Better to find that out now rather than later.

That said, several Mariners fans were upset, because it leaves the M's with one less experienced manager to choose from. Jerry Dipoto said at his end of the season press conference that the M's preferred a candidate with managerial experience, but that it wasn't a pre-requisite. 

With Baldelli now out of the mix, the only publicly confirmed names of interest are former Houston Astros manager Joe Espada and current Chicago Cubs farm director Jason Kanzler. Other names that have been loosely connected to the position are former Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and former Cubs manager David Ross.

Several fans seem to want someone with experience since lack of experience was one of the biggest complaints of Dan Wilson's managerial tenure, and that brings me to my point here.

I'm not saying that these fans are wrong, but I just find the difference between MLB fans and NFL fans to be fascinating.

For instance, in the NFL, fans are always looking for the next young, hot coordinator candidate. Fans are fearful of missing out on the next Sean McVay, Mike Macdonald, or Kyle Shanahan. Every time that Mike McCarthy or Dan Quinn gets hired, it's an eye roll from the fanbase. In the NFL, fans associate the re-tread head coach with just "having been fired." Here, the experience is what people want, and having been fired doesn't seem to bother people.

I asked ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney about that distinction on the latest "Refuse to Lose Territory" podcast.

"Well, ​and ​maybe ​it ​reflects ​the ​different ​nature ​of ​the ​two ​sports. ​You ​know, ​where ​you ​go ​through ​this ​long ​slog ​of ​the ​baseball ​season, ​going ​day ​after ​day ​after ​day. ​The ​managers ​meeting ​with ​the ​media ​twice ​a ​day, ​having ​to ​answer ​questions. ​And ​I ​do ​think ​​that ​exposes ​the ​managers ​to ​more ​scrutiny. ​All ​their ​words ​post​game, ​all ​their ​words ​pregame ​are ​being ​taken apart. ​I ​mean, ​look ​at ​what ​Aaron ​Boone's ​gone ​through... ​Like, ​his ​competency ​was ​batted ​around ​in ​the ​New ​York ​media, ​despite ​the ​fact ​that ​he ​had ​nine ​years. ​​And ​you ​can ​imagine ​it's ​heightened ​if ​you ​don't ​have ​that ​sort ​of ​resume. ​And ​I ​just ​think ​the ​media ​exposure ​has ​a ​lot ​to ​do ​with ​what ​you're ​talking ​about."

Perhaps Olney is right, and that seems like a valid point.

As I've said all along, I'm looking for a candidate that checks these following boxes:

1) They've been a coach before at the professional level. Manager, bench coach, base coach, hitting coach, pitching coach. I don't necessarily need managerial experience, but I do need someone who has been in the dugout before.

2) No one who comes directly from college.

3) No one who has worked for the Mariners on the field in the Jerry Dipoto-era. I was willing to change that for Stephen Vogt, but he was the only one. The Mariners have said they want new voices, and I don't feel like former Mariners coaches accomplishes that. Sorry, Kris Negron.